Story+1985-08-07+Cleveland,+OH

´´This is, uh....on the first part of our....tour of the States we were traveling down through Texas....and there was a lot of people that´d moved down there from up north to work in the oil fields and the oil refineries....then when the price of oil dropped, they started laying them off the refineries....and they´d end up with no place to go, sleeping on the outskirts of town in tents pitched by the highway or sleeping in their cars....this is a song called ´Seeds´....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´Seeds´´**

´´This is a song about blood money....and losing yourself in Atlantic City....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´Atlantic City´´**

´´When I was growing up....my....my old man used to sit in the kitchen....and....he used to lock up the frontdoor at night so that me and my sister would have to come in around the side....that way he could always see what time we were gonna come home....I can remember I used to hate, hate going through that kitchen at night ´cause he´d have all the lights out and my mother would be sitting in the frontroom watching tv with those, uh, pink, old kind of curlers that ladies used to wear....till she´d fall asleep, but my dad, he´d sit there awake....and I´d stand in the driveway and I could look through the screendoor and see his cigarette light and I used to like slick my hair down, I had real long hair, I used to slick it down so, so he couldn´t tell how long it was ´cause (?)....and I´d get up my nerve and I´d walk up on the porch and walk through the screendoor (?) I´d walk through the livingroom, I wouldn´t hear nothing, and I´d get my foot right on that bottom step about to go upstairs and I´d think that I´d just about made it and I´d hear ´Bruuuce?´....I´d turn around (?) I´d walk back, he´d say ´Sit down, I wanna talk to you´ and I´d sit there....and the first thing he´d ask me was.... ´What do you think you´re doing with yourself?´....and I didn´t know....but, uh, some nights if it got too late, I used to have a sleeping bag that I used to stash under a friend of mine´s porch....and instead of coming home, I´d wait till (?) and I´d sleep in somebody´s car or I´d sleep on somebody´s porch....and when I go back home, sometimes I get in my car and I drive back down the streets and those places I used to sleep feel more like home to me than my own house did when I was growing up....but anyway....this is a song, this is, uh, ´cause everybody needs someplace to go on those nights they can´t go home.....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´The River´´**

´´Take it easy for a minute there, boys....now, this is a song about getting old....yeah, man.... getting old....man, I´m, I´m 35 now....oh, man, that´s old, man, that´s old, yeah....now, Roy, Roy, he´s 36....he was 34 when the tour started....he´s over the hill, I´m 35, I still got a few months left to live yet....but now the Big Man, he´s older than all the rest of us....but somehow he always maintains his youthful beauty....I don´t know how he does it, he must have some beauty cream or something....but, uh, I wanna do this song tonight for any of you guys who are out there with your kids....you´re out there with your wife....oh yeah....this is ´cause in the end it all ain´t nothing but glory days....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´Glory Days´´**

´´Alright....gotta keep searching for that Promised Land....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´**

´´Thanks....this is a song, oh, I wrote....I was living in California for a little while and I was thinking back....on the town that I grew up in....and uh....I guess after I wrote the song and recorded it, I realised that what this song is about is responsobility to the place that you live ....and how you can run from it but you can´t hide (chuckles) when I was a kid....I remember I was always afraid of belonging to something, couldn´t wait to get out of town, for a long time I never missed my folks or missed my friends....I was afraid of saying that I was a part of something because that meant that I had some responsobility to it....and uh....if you´re out there tonight and....and I see you´ve got some of those flags in your hands....well, there´s some folks in the audience tonight that are trying their best to live up to the responsobility of their town....they´re from the Greater....Cleveland....Foodbank....and what a foodbank is is every year here in the States 20 percent of all the food that gets produced gets wasted and thrown away....meanwhile we´ve got people, old folks whose social security checks don´t get ´em through the month, we´ve got people in halfway houses....people in battered wives´ houses....young kids at childcare centers who ain´t getting enough food or ain´t getting the right kind of food to lead a healthy life....and I know you´ve read a lot about the hunger down in Africa and it´s hard to believe that right here in our country, in every city and every town there´s people that go to bed with not enough to eat every night....we´ve got 15 percent of our population living below the poverty line and in a country as rich as ours is, that´s a real shame, it´s a shame on all of us....so what a foodbank does is it gets that food that would be wasted and it gets it to the agencies that serve those people....and with the cuts that we have in government social programmes, they could use all the help and assistance that you can give ´em....so tonight when you go out into the hall, you´re gonna see a phonenumber of the Cleveland Foodbank, they need volunteers, they need some money and uh....they´re here in your town....keeping their promise to your community to make it a more decent and a better place for everybody to live....I guess for me that´s what America´s supposed to be about....anyway, this is your hometown so you do something about it....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´My Hometown´´**

´´When you´re a kid sometimes....(?)....they don´t think about....sometimes the things that you don´t have....all I remembered was....my father working so hard....coming home to nothing but the kitchen....and the dark....and sitting around thinking about everything that we wasn´t ever gonna get....till, as I got older, he´d get me thinking like that too....and sometimes I´d lay in bed....I´d feel like....if something didn´t happen, I was just gonna....I felt like...like someday I´d just....I´d just....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´I´m on Fire´´**

´´Easy, boys....alright....now....this is a song about the conflict between worldly things and spiritual health....that´s right....about the conflict between desires of the flesh, sexual desire....and spiritual ecstasy....now, where did this conflict begin?....well, man, it began way back in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden....now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia....but the latest theological studies, and you´re gonna be reading this in the Christian Science Monitor any day now, found out that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike.... that´s why they call it the Garden State!....oh yeah....now, in the Garden of Eden there were none of the accoutrements of modern livin, you couldn´t go home at night and crawl into your little bed and put the little Pop-Tarts in the toaster and watch Johnny Carson....no!.... you couldn´t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....no, Sir! ....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin....there was no sex....man lived in a state of innocence....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in ....but anyway....right before the tour I took a spiritual journey right to the location of the Garden of Eden to find out the answer to some of these mysteries....and the spot is now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, the man said to me: ´Son, you need a yellow convertible, a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, with a full fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tapedeck, TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’....I said ´But, Dan, that´s not the reason why I came....you see what I came here for is to find out the answer to this temptation, why my soul pulls me over here, why my flesh pulls me over there´....he said ´Well, Son, that´s easy, because right here on these ten beautiful industrially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that man had ever seen, in the Garden of Eden there was many wonderous things: there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve and she looked so fine....and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman.....and then Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman....and then they walked out into the green fields and when Adam....let´s just say it was the first time....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their sweet love into a betrayal and sent them running down into the darkness below but that´s alright because right here tonight on this backlot, for 9995 and no money down, I´ve got the keys to their getaway car ....and if you´ve got the nerve to ride....we´ve got the first....pink....Cadillac....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´Pink Cadillac´´**

´´Oh, thanks....I´d like to....take a second and thank everybody for coming down to the show here tonight in Cleveland....this is, uh....this has been a town, been a town that´s supported our band right from the very beginng and uh....I want you to know we appreciate it....I know some of you guys had to hang in line for a long time for tickets and I want you to know that we appreciate it....anyway, this is, uh....this is a song, uh, by Woody Guthrie, I guess this is about the best song that´s ever been written about America....and, uh, I guess because it gets right to the heart....of the promise that our country was supposed to be about....and as we, as we sit here tonight, we see that promise eroding away for many of our, our fellow countrymen....and I guess we gotta watchout because countries, just like people, can let the best of themselves slip away....but, uh....anyway....I´d like to do this for youse, wishing youse all the longest life with the best of everything....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´This Land Is Your Land´´**

´´Let me introduce you to my buddies....Roy Bittan on the piano....Patti Scialfa on the vocals ....Garry Tallent on the bass....Max Weinberg on the drums....Dan Federici on the organ.... Nils Lofgren on the guitar....and do I have to say his name? (crowd: ´No´) Big Man Clarence Clemons on the saxophone....now that we´ve been formally introduced....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´Ramrod´´**

´´Alright....here´s a good summer song....´´
 * 07.08.85 Cleveland, OH, intro to ´´Sherry Darling´´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//